Orchestrating infrastructure for sustainable Smart Cities

A new IEC White Paper launched

By Janice Blondeau

Cities are central to any solution to global economic, social, energy or environmental challenges. Globally, urban areas are home to around half the world’s population and generate around 80% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

This new IEC White Paper provides the what, who and how of Smart City development

Putting the ‘smart’ in Smart Cities

Cities and urban areas are responsible for around 70% of global energy consumption and energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.(1) Without a coherent strategy to run cities more efficiently, the global targets on greenhouse gas emissions and the ambitions for sustainable growth cannot be achieved.

The IEC, with CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies) as principal partner, has produced a White Paper that identifies ways to orchestrate infrastructure for sustainable Smart Cities. It explains the what, who and how of Smart City development.

Sustainable and smart

By 2050, it is projected that 67% of the global population will live in cities. Smart Cities are necessary to reduce emissions and to handle this rapid urban growth. However cities, as we know them, are faced with a complex challenge – the traditional processes of planning, procuring and financing are not adequate for the needs of Smart Cities. Their development requires the right environment for smart solutions to be effectively adopted and used.

IEC facilitates smartness

The IEC has a specific role to play in the development of Smart City Standards as electricity is core in any urban infrastructure system and the key enabler of cities development. Delivering the full value of Standards to accelerate the development of Smart Cities and lower its costs also clearly needs a strong collaboration of all city stakeholders.

Collaboration is key

This White Paper explains what it needs to move cities to greater smartness. Wide collaboration is needed between many stakeholders, including other international standardization bodies, to ultimately lead to integrated, cost-efficient, and sustainable solutions.

The development of this White Paper was led by the IEC MSB (Market Strategy Board) project team on Smart Cities in cooperation with CEPS. The MSB brings together the CTOs of leading international organizations.

IEC Smart City work

From the electrical energy that comes into homes, schools, offices and shopping centres to public transport systems, public utilities that supply water, electricity, and remove household waste – the work of the IEC underpins just about every aspect of modern city life.

It is there in the public lighting of sports stadiums and auditoriums, airport safety measures, lifesaving medical equipment and in the communications and IT technologies that ensure that city railway and bus services work as they should. IEC SEG (Systems Evaluation Group) 1 was created as part of the systems approach to manage Smart City standardization needs.

It is open to external organizations with an interest in Smart Cities, as well as bringing together relevant IEC experts. The SEG 1 on Smart Cities is preparing an inventory of existing standards, a reference architecture model and a roadmap based on the recommendations of its Working Groups and Task Groups.

Looking forward

SEG 1 Working Groups address city service continuity, urban planning and simulation system, city facilities management, use case – smart home, use case – smart education, Smart Cities assessment, and standards development for Smart Cities using the city of Johannesburg as a piloting benchmark for Smart Cities implementation.

SEG 1 is due to submit a final report in June 2015 and will most likely be transformed into a SyC (Systems Committee) later in the year.

About CEPS

Founded in Brussels in 1983, the Centre for European Policy Studies is among the most experienced and authoritative think tanks operating in the European Union. CEPS serves as a leading forum for debate on EU affairs – its most distinguishing feature lies in its strong in-house research capacity, complemented by an extensive network of partner institutes throughout the world.

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ABOUT THE IEC

The IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) is the world’s leading organization that prepares and publishes International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. Close to 20 000 experts from industry, commerce, government, test and research labs, academia and consumer groups participate in IEC Standardization work.